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                                                  PTO 96-26
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          Lisa-Joy Zgorski
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      U.S. CALLS FOR APPLICATION OF "FAIR USE" DOCTRINE
                   IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
                              
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -- In a statement to the Diplomatic
Conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO), the United States has affirmed that the doctrine of
"fair use" of copyrighted materials should apply on the
Internet and elsewhere within the digital environment.
Bruce A. Lehman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, said the United
States wants it clarified that two new copyright treaties
under negotiation in Geneva "will permit application of fair
use in the digital environment."

The United States hopes countries at the WIPO Diplomatic
Conference will endorse a joint statement extending "fair
use" in the digital environment, which will be made a part
of the formal proceedings and attached to the treaty text.
Commissioner Lehman is optimistic, as he believes that a
consensus among countries is emerging.

In the United States, the doctrine of "fair use" permits
individuals to make use of copyrighted works without the
permission of the copyright owner, when the use does not
cause that owner economic harm.  Most other countries allow
similar exceptions to copyright law, but refer to them as
"fair dealing," "limitations," or "exceptions."

Lehman told the WIPO conference that the United States
believes the two new legal instruments under negotiation
"should be understood to permit Contracting Parties to carry
forward and appropriately extend into the digital
environment limitations and exceptions in their national
laws which have been considered acceptable under the Berne
Convention."

"We are responding to the concerns of librarians, educators,
and on-line service providers in the United States," Lehman
said, "these provisions should be understood to permit
Contracting Parties to devise new exceptions and limitations
that are appropriate in the digital environment," he said in
a December 10 statement to a plenary session of the WIPO
Diplomatic Conference.

                          --more--
The following is Lehman's December 10, 1996 statement on
"fair use":

The United States also wishes to make clear certain
misunderstandings with respect to Article 12.  It is
essential that these treaties permit application of the
evolving U.S. doctrine of fair use in the digital
environment.  In particular, the provisions of Article 12
should be understood to permit Contracting Parties to carry
forward and appropriately extend into the digital
environment limitations and exceptions in their national
laws which have been considered acceptable under the Berne
Convention.

December 11, 1996
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